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Male Programmer Privilege Checklist
The Male Programmer Privilege Checklist Being male (or perceived to be male) as a programmer, means: Othering See also: Othering *Not having to explain why the term "gentlemen" doesn't include you. ** Never having to navigate others' confusion about how to refer to you when not using your name. ** Not ever being called "the lady programmer". ** Never being the special case ("hi guys and girls, I guess, too, if you want to get really technical about it!!") ** Never feeling compelled to ease the discomfort of someone who realizes that they have forgotten to include you in their greeting because of your gender, whether or not you were actually bothered by the omission. * Not having to wonder whether you're well-known in your community simply for being "the female one". * Expecting that if you say you are a programmer, people will believe you. * Never being described as "hot" first and a competent professional second. * The freedom to watch a technical talk without being explicitly reminded that many of your colleagues see you primarily as a sex object. (See also: Sexualized environment.) * If you're heterosexual, knowing that you will almost certainly be able to join in appreciation of the sex object du jour. * Being free to do your job without anyone insinuating that you only got hired because of affirmative action or "quotas", or because of the anatomy you happen to possess. (See also: Tokenism.) * Being free to attend a technical talk without anyone assuming that you're only there because your boyfriend dragged you along with him. * Expecting that when you attend a conference, giveaway shirts will be available in a cut designed with bodies like yours and fashion norms like those attached to your gender in mind, even if they are out of your size. If shirts are provided from event signups, there is no need to do anything more complicated than specifying shirt size. (See: T-shirts.) * Never being asked whether you got lost upon entering a computer science classroom. * Being able to listen to speakers refer to an inanimate software construct as "this guy" without feeling othered and getting distracted from the content of the talk. * Not having to deal with awkwardness after someone complimented you on your work in a non-gender-appropriate way and then tries to correct themselves (for example: "you the MAN! err... you the woMAN!"). * Not having to worry that you will be insulted in a way that calls attention to your gender (for example: "bitch", "whore"). * The freedom to laugh at jokey photos of women holding bumper stickers about closures because they're as funny to you as pictures of cats "reading" calculus books, rather than wondering whether your colleagues see you in the same way as those women. * The freedom to listen to speakers say that software should be so easy to use that even your mom could use it without wondering whether they have you in mind. * The freedom to laugh at stories about speakers' significant others not understanding something technical without wondering whether they have you in mind. * The freedom to listen to speakers say that instant messaging isn't just for teenage girls talking about the Backstreet Boys without wondering whether they have you-ten-years-ago in mind. * The expectation that if you attend a professional conference, there will be a restroom you can use. (See also: Restroom.) * Never being excluded from the conclusion of an important conversation being conducted in the hallway because the rest of the group decided to stop at the restroom. (See also: Restroom.) * Never being embarrassed by almost accidentally walking into the wrong restroom because you were distracted by an important conversation. * Being invited to play video games with your colleagues, because they haven't assumed you won't be interested because of your gender. * Having colleagues who can close the door when they talk to you if the conversation is loud or should remain private, without anyone worrying about impropriety, assault, or false accusations. (See also: Personal safety) * Not having to think about what gender you are. * Not being accidentally called by the name of an employee who does not resemble you in any way except for gender. * When touring a prospective workplace, seeing your gender heavily represented among the employees and making you feel right away like you belong in the new environment, rather than the opposite. Double standards and double binds * The freedom to tell someone to RTFM without ever being accused of PMS. * The freedom to make mistakes or say stupid things without worrying about it getting added to the pile of "why women suck at computer stuff". (This point is also illustrated by the "you suck at math" xkcd comic entitled "How it works.") * Being praised for the content of your writing rather than the neatness of your handwriting. * Being appreciated as a competent professional rather than as an instrument for calming down troublesome people or manipulating disagreeable ones. * Never having anyone suggest that you slept your way into getting a bug fixed. * Being confident that your work is really as good as your supervisor says it is, free from fear that someone is allowing you to submit substandard work in hopes of sleeping with you. * Having potential romantic partners assume from your career that you're smart and well-to-do rather than unattractive and unfeeling. * If you're married, having people take you to lunch without them speculating on how your spouse would feel about them taking you to lunch. * The freedom to show interest in things that are stereotypical for your gender without having to worry you'll be taken less seriously because of it. * The freedom to show interest in things that are unstereotypical for your gender without having to worry that you'll be seen as freaky and asexual for it (instead of being seen as cool and progressive). * The freedom to show interest in things that are unstereotypical for your gender without being told you're just doing it to get attention from the other gender (instead of being seen as just another member of the group). * Being treated like a hero if you compromise on work for childcare responsibilities, rather than having your commitment to work questioned. * Being praised for an extraordinary achievement if you cook a dish for the work potluck yourself instead of having your significant other do it or buying something from a store. * Not having to choose between dressing/acting stereotypically for your gender and being thought unprofessional (or not a Real Geek) for it, and dressing/acting un-stereotypically and being thought unseemly. * The right to organize professional or educational events that are a safe space for members of your gender and in which members of other genders are unwelcome, without being criticized by members of a different gender for being "sexist" or "exclusionary". (This works because you enjoy the privilege of being able to enforce the single-sexedness of a particular event or space without ever having to say so explicitly, thus granting yourself immunity from criticism.) * The freedom to mention your gender online without worrying that if you do, and you then experience gender discrimination, others will tell you that it's your fault for mentioning your gender. * The freedom to not mention your gender online while knowing that even if your accomplishments never get stacked up as "worthwhile things male programmers have done", male programmers' reputation will be safe anyhow. * The freedom to switch to a less technical career without feeling like you're betraying the cause of gender equality. * Knowing that others will explain your interaction with same-gender colleagues based on your unique personality, rather than based on stereotypes about your gender. That is, if you get along well with another person of your own gender, others will attribute it to your unique friendship, rather than natural bonds between men that can't exist between women and men; likewise, if you do not get along well with someone of your own gender, others will assume you have valid reasons, rather than attributing it to how men always hate each other and judge each other harshly. * The freedom to acquire skills on your own without diminishing your marketability, while saving the additional time and money that a woman would have to invest in formal credentials in order to be taken equally seriously. (See also: Employment.) * The extra time and freedom to upgrade your skills and stay current in technology because your gender is not expected to perform the "second shift" (also known as the double burden) in the domestic world. * The freedom to enter the field from a non-traditional background (for example, the arts) and enjoy the advantage of being seen as special and creative (instead of being seen as an outsider with the wrong credentials). * Having high-profile successful college drop-outs of your gender to look up and aspire to in the IT industry (for example, Bill Gates), so that if you drop out of college to try hacking in your basement, professional colleagues will take you seriously, not tell you to get a computer science degree. * The freedom to make mistakes on the job and have others attribute it to your career being a continual learning experience, rather than assuming you are incorrigibly incompetent. Employment * The freedom to apply for a job at your partner's workplace without worrying that others will think you only got the job because of your partner. * The ability to have your desk near the entrance to your office without visitors assuming you're the receptionist. * Not being the first one everyone expects will take notes, reserve the restaurant for lunch or dinner, or call maintenance to get the AC fixed. * Never being asked by a job interviewer whether you would mind being the first employee of your gender in the company. * The freedom to attend job fairs without having anyone suggest you look for secretarial work instead. * Having questions about your ideas directed to you during a meeting or seminar that you're speaking in, rather than to your collaborator or colleague of a different gender. * Never having to re-direct attention to yourself as the expert, away from someone of a different gender. * While networking for your next job or trying to find a different-gender mentor, having people take your professional aspirations seriously and not view your efforts to make professional connections as flirting (because you can't seriously be interested in technology). * Ease in finding a professional mentor, as no one regards you as a waste of teaching time and energy or as inherently technologically incompetent and unteachable because of your gender. * The ability to be hired easily early in your career, because employes see your natural potential and view you as trainable rather than using your inexperience as an excuse not to hire you. * Having many self-taught programmers of your gender as role models, because employers have faith in people of your gender who lack formal university credentials, and such people can thereby achieve success. * Being recruited by non-local employers who don't assume you can't move because of your spouse's career. * Being believed when you say you are passionate about technology, programming, or gaming, when passion is listed among the desired traits in a job candidate. * Being confident that you are compatible with a company's culture when an employer explicitly states they want someone with the "right fit" but does not define what it means to be the "right fit." * The freedom to apply for a programming job if you have a non-technical background, buoyed by the accepted view of your gender as innately rational and logical. * The expectation that even if you apply with a liberal arts degree, you'll still be taken seriously as a programming job candidate. (There are plenty of male programmers with English degrees out there who were allowed to prove themselves. However, the shortage of female programmers has been explained away as "because they just don't study Computer Science in high numbers." This ignores the existence of female self-taught programmers and demands that a female earn the "right" technical degree before she is allowed into the field, establishing a double standard where women are expected to have a higher level of formal education than men in order to do the same job.) * Feeling entitled to command a higher salary, thinking you deserve it more than colleagues of other genders because your work is superior. Feeling confident in this belief because you're able to maintain the idea that IT is a meritocracy where your gender naturally excels, with the smaller number of women as "proof." * Not being perceived as greedy and undeserving of a higher salary because you are out of your element in the IT industry, and should therefore be grateful instead of whatever you're originally offered in pay. * Never having to wonder if your employer will deny you a positive reference for your next job in retaliation if you report sexual harassment or pay discrimination. * Never being told that the only reason why you weren't hired for an entry-level position was because you would leave soon anyway to another company with better pay, because no one assumes that people of your gender are rare in the industry and therefore more in demand (desperately needed to fill quotas). * Not having your looks work against you in a hiring decision if you meet conventional standards of attractiveness. * Better access to the Old Boys' Network or angel investors if you want to start your own company, since white male tech startups get funding for being white and male. * Being seen and admired as being ambitious and even ingenious, a coding hero or maverick with a justified big ego, if you're a self-taught programmer with no formal credentials, rather than being seen as outright unqualified for the job. (Can also fall under Double Standards and Double Binds.) * Being able to easily network with programmers of your own gender, with the majority of people in the industry being your gender. This is an enormous advantage over women in a world where it's not what you know but who you know. You have access even to the male programmers that refuse to befriend women, only seeing them as potential sexual partners and nothing else. You can be their friend, and achieve personal gain through their network and word-of-mouth job advertising, while women cannot unless they consent to dating them. You are removed from this burden and allowed access to the "hidden job market" just because you are male. Personal safety See also: Rape culture * The freedom to attend a technical conference without fear of sexual assault. * The freedom to participate in social situations or stay at work late without fear that your co-workers or boss will assault you. * If you have been assaulted in a work-related environment, the freedom to switch to another job and be sure it won't happen again there. * The freedom to walk home unafraid after a late-night coding spree. * Freedom from fear that your open-source work will make you a target for death threats (note: linked-to post discusses sexual assault and violent threats against women). * The freedom to have a closed-door discussion without worrying that this is an attempt to isolate you to carry out an assault. (See also: Othering) Innocence * Enjoying the learning process without being discouraged by failure, since you can see it as a fun part of experimentation; freedom from perfectionism engendered by fear that your mistakes will be used as examples of why your gender can't excel at programming. * Enjoying the blissful illusion that computer science or the IT industry are pure meritocracies where gender never matters. * Enjoying the belief that there is no gender oppression in computer science or the IT industry because the people in it are generally educated at the post-secondary level and university-educated people cannot possibly be sexist. * Enjoying the belief that women are absent from IT just because they don't want to participate, while unaware that some are actually willing but being denied jobs and a chance to prove themselves at the entry level. * Enjoying the belief that women are absent from IT because of its competitive, cut-throat nature (competition with H-1B visa-holders as well as local workers) or a variety of other related reasons and not because discrimination bars them at the entry level. * Believing that women are "too smart" to enter IT and that they choose more stable careers out of prudence. * Believing that your university degree got you hired if you lacked work experience, not knowing that an equally qualified woman was turned down for not having work experience either. * Believing that your work experience got you hired if you lacked a university degree, not knowing that an equally qualified woman was turned down for having no degree either. * Being utterly oblivious to the idea that what you wear and how you look affects whether senior men encourage your points at meetings, ask you to join key discussions, and generally want you around. * Assuming that your accomplishments increase your status with people of the gender or genders you're interested in. * The freedom to discuss the role of gender in programming without people thinking you're being (a) self-serving, (b) whiny, © bringing politics into realms where it's not relevant, or (d) all of the above. * The privilege of being able to deny the existence of your own privilege as a male programmer. About The original version of the list was by Kake, inspired by a post on the London Perlmongers mailing list. A number of other privilege checklists also served as inspiration. From 2006-2011, the master version of this list was maintained by Tim Chevalier. Guidelines for adding new entries To some people, some of the items of this list may not seem very specific to software, computer science, open source, or IT. Perhaps some items seem common to all professional environments. That's okay; the purpose of this list is to sample a broad range of experiences that women, and people who were perceived at some point as women, have had while working as programmers. Not all of the experiences need to be experiences that only a programmer would have. See also * Cisgender Programmer Privilege Checklist * Privilege, or the lack of experience that others suffer from Category:Privilege Category:Checklists